Ryehills Farm Day Nursery

An on-site Forest School gives Ryehills Farm Day Nursery its clearest identity: outdoor learning through exploration, practical play and supported risk-taking. The West Haddon setting has capacity for 103 children, from birth to five years. Nature is a substantial part of the offer, rather than simply a backdrop.

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good and safeguarding effective. The strengths beneath that judgement included familiar relationships with adults, opportunities to explore outdoors and accessible books; the areas for improvement concerned activity planning and children talking with dummies in their mouths.

Attendance can fit different family routines, with morning, afternoon and longer daytime patterns alongside weekday opening from 7.30am to 6pm. The choice matters for parents combining childcare with work or looking for a shorter nursery day.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room and Two's Room organise provision around younger children, while the nursery also caters for preschool children. Whole-setting capacity should be read as a measure of the nursery's overall scale, rather than the number of children sharing an activity or room.

In January 2025, babies turned to familiar adults when they needed comfort. Older children sought help with finding their wellington boots before outdoor play. Those small examples show how care and increasing independence sat alongside each other: children could attempt practical tasks while still having an adult to turn to.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, including communication, physical development and learning through play. Forest School adds a particular approach alongside that framework: repeated experiences in a natural environment, shaped around children's interests and opportunities to explore and attempt manageable challenges.

Ryehills has its own on-site Forest School. That makes the outdoor setting part of the learning offer itself. The approach gives children practical things to investigate and do, with their interests helping to shape the experience.

In January 2025, books were within children's reach, and adults made reading aloud engaging. Songs and nursery rhymes supported conversation, with simpler language for younger children and questions that invited older children to think before answering. Role-play included pretending to be a police officer, connecting imaginative play with occupations children encounter beyond nursery.

Activity planning was less consistent. In January 2025, some staff provided play dough without a clear learning intention, and children sometimes lost interest or became unsettled. The useful distinction for parents is between having appealing resources and using them purposefully to extend a particular child's learning.

Outdoor and Community Life

The substantial outdoor space supported nature walks in January 2025. Older children made bug hotels and investigated insects, while younger children practised negotiating steps with adult guidance. Putting on scarves and gloves also became an opportunity to learn about keeping warm. Outdoor time combined discovery with everyday practical skills.

Community experiences have also supplied concrete subjects for learning. Long Buckby Fire Services visited to discuss fire safety and let children try equipment. A past police visit introduced children to the work, clothing and vehicles of police officers. These were past visits, rather than a standing schedule of visitors, but illustrate how real encounters have extended role-play and conversations about people who help others.

Relationships and Communication

Familiarity mattered in January 2025. Children had close relationships with their key person, and staff understood individual care routines. Adults responded promptly to unwanted behaviour and helped children begin to understand expectations. For a parent choosing care for a baby, the significant detail is the familiar adult available for reassurance.

Parents received updates about development in January 2025 and knew who their child's key person was. Staff also offered ideas for continuing learning at home. This made communication more useful than a simple account of which activities had taken place: families had something they could carry into their own time with their child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received targeted learning plans and timely referrals where appropriate, while signs, visual prompts and nearby adult support helped children learning English as an additional language make excellent progress. These are specific support mechanisms, with an assessment of their effect tied to that inspection date.

Communication also had an unfinished element. In January 2025, children sometimes continued using dummies after settling and tried to speak around them, making pronunciation and understanding harder. Encouraging their removal was an explicit improvement priority. Families whose child uses a dummy have a clear care issue to discuss alongside comfort and settling.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Rye Hills Farm, Northampton Road, West Haddon, Northampton, NN6 7AS. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with year-round operation apart from Bank Holidays and Christmas.

The daytime choices include 7.30am to 6pm, 8am to 6pm, 8am to 4pm and 9am to 4pm. Shorter patterns run from 8am to noon, 1pm to 5pm or 1pm to 6pm. These are useful differences: an early start, a school-length daytime window and an afternoon booking serve different routines.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01788 510333 or by email to ryehills@climbinghighnurseries.co.uk. The nursery also has an enquiry form.

Funding and Paid Extras

In January 2025, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. Funded childcare and privately paid attendance should be considered separately when putting together a booking.

Private attendance prices include meals where applicable; breakfast, lunch and tea have separately listed prices. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the attendance pattern and meals taken are therefore relevant to the family's total cost.

• Purposeful activities. The January 2025 improvement priority was to make activities build more consistently on children's existing skills. During a visit, ask for an example of how staff adapt an activity for the children taking part.
• Dummies and speech. In January 2025, children sometimes spoke while using dummies. Discuss how the team balances reassurance with opportunities for clear conversation once a child has settled.
• Forest School participation. Outdoor learning is central and the Forest School is on site. Ask how your child's age and chosen attendance pattern shape participation and preparation for outdoor sessions.
• The complete childcare cost. Private attendance prices include meals where applicable; breakfast, lunch and tea have separately listed prices. Request a written quotation for your chosen attendance pattern, including any funded hours.

Ryehills suits families who want outdoor learning to play a substantial part in nursery life, whether they need a morning, an afternoon or a longer daytime booking. Its on-site Forest School is the strongest practical reason to consider it.

The January 2025 picture combined familiar care relationships and useful outdoor experiences with uneven activity planning and a specific speech-related improvement priority. A visit should concentrate on those everyday practices: how adults extend play, support communication and help each child take part.